Nice

Set on the southeastern Mediterranean coast of France at the foot of the Maritime Alps, Nice (Nissa in Niçard) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department and the second most populous city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region after Marseille. Lying approximately 13 kilometres west of Monaco and 30 kilometres west of the French-Italian border, the municipality recorded 357,737 inhabitants in the 2023 census, anchoring an urban agglomeration of 987,709 residents across 744 square kilometres.

Founded around 350 BC by Phocaean Greeks from Marseille as Nikaia, the city stood under the protection of the House of Savoy and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia from 1388 until its annexation by France in 1860. On 27 July 2021, UNESCO inscribed Nice, Winter Resort Town of the Riviera on the World Heritage List, recognising how eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European aristocrats shaped the 7-kilometre Promenade des Anglais, the arcaded squares of Place Masséna, and the hilltop palaces of Cimiez.

Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE) sits 5.9 kilometres southwest of the centre at the western end of the Promenade des Anglais and handled 15.23 million passengers in 2025, making it the third busiest airport in France after Paris. Since 2018, Tram Line 2 runs from Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 through an underground city-centre tunnel to Port Lympia, while SNCF TGV and TER trains serve the 1867 Louis XIII-style Gare de Nice-Ville.

With the second largest hotel capacity in France after Paris, accommodation in Nice spans the pedestrian lanes of Vieux-Nice, Belle Époque palaces and boutique hotels along the Promenade des Anglais and Carré d'Or, leafy residential avenues in Cimiez, and the Genoese harbour front of Port Lympia.

Begin with our Nice travel guide and overview of things to do in Nice. Wander the morning flower stalls of Vieux-Nice, Cours Saleya, and Cathédrale Sainte-Réparate, climb the 93-metre Colline du Château above Port Lympia, and walk the 7-kilometre Promenade des Anglais. Explore the Roman baths and art collections of Cimiez, Musée Matisse, and Musée Marc Chagall, admire the St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral, hike the coastal trail around Mont Boron to Villefranche-sur-Mer, and plan day trips to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Èze, and Monaco.

Protected by the Label Cuisine Nissarde and inscribed in France's inventory of intangible cultural heritage in 2019, traditional dishes in Nice include wood-fired chickpea-flour socca, raw seasonal salade niçoise, olive-oil-soaked pan bagnat sandwiches, and slow-cooked onion and anchovy pissaladière.

Ranking second in France after Paris for its number of museums, Nice celebrates centuries of Mediterranean and cosmopolitan culture, from the 1294 origins of the February Carnival and the 1885 Opéra de Nice to the School of Nice and New Realists at MAMAC.